X
PREFACE.
lar, but I have sincerely wished to avoid giving just cause of of-fence to any individual, or to any body of men whatever.
5. I have endeavoured to treat practical morals in a mannersuited to the wants of the present day. This remark has respectboth to the selection of topics for discussion and illustration, andto the application of principles to the tendencies, events, andgeneral circumstances of the passing times. The principles ofpractical morals are the imperishable principles of truth, and arenot in themselves subject to change; but the proper mode, in whichthey are to be illustrated and applied, varies, in a greater or lessdegree, according to the form of government, the structure andcondition of society, the employments, and the state of educa-tion, general intelligence, &c., in a country. It is the duty ofeach succeeding writer on any science, to reproduce and incor-porate into his work, whatever is most valuable in the works ofpreceding writers on the same science ; otherwise knowledgecannot be expected to advance, and might possibly retrograde.But in addition to this, it has been my aim to combine in mywork whatever of fresh and novel interest is entitled to atten-tion. To this end, I have availed myself of all the materialswhich diligence, vigilant search, and enterprise could bring with-in my reach. I have, during many years, purchased all thebooks and pamphlets published upon Moral Philosophy or any ofits topics, which, I have had reason to believe, were worth pur-chasing. The science of practical morals is not stationary,much less is it incapable of advancement. Like other sciences,it depends in a certain degree on experience,' and successivewriters ought to aim to collect, and register in their works, thewell matured results of experience. This volume seems tome to contain a considerable number of new results of thiskind.
6. In treating the various subjects which make up this vol-ume, I have not thought my duty fulfilled by presenting my ownunassisted reflections and conclusions ; though to have satisfiedmyself with such a course would have been a task comparative-